When Mamoru Met Usagi
by Latin Usako
Summary: Failed tests, flying shoes, ugly green blazers and insults. Who knew love could be so much fun?


Disclaimer: Do I even have to say this? * SIGH * For those of you whoare

delusional enough to think I own any of the Sailor Moon charactersor plots…I 

don't. I, like, Chaucer, am taking events out of the SailorMoon timeline and 

giving them my own personal flair. Oh, wait; Chaucer's "Troilus and Criseyde" 

was a blatant rip-off of Boccaccio's"Il Filostrato," wasn't it? Shoot. Look, 

Naoko Takeuchi (if you don't know this you've been living under a rock!) is the 

original creator of Sailor Moon and all the characters belong to her. SHE is the 

one who's made millions of yen (and rightly so) off of Sailor Moon and I am a 

POOR college student who merely enjoys writing fan fiction. I do not, in any way 

shape or form, make money off of this (if I did I certainly wouldn't be living 

where I do now) so please don't send lawyers after me.

**********************

When Mamoru Met Usagi 

by Latin Usako 

**********************

      Usagi Tsukino walked dejectedly along the streets of Tokyo, a test paper 

in hand.  

      The gods up in heaven must be cruel, she decided.  For you see, only 

wicked, cruel gods would make her fail quizzes and tests EVERY SINGLE TIME she 

took them. 

      No matter how much time she spent studying or how much faith she placed in 

her abilities she ALWAYS failed tests.

      It also didn't help that her teacher, Ms. Haruna, did not have an inkling 

of pity for her. 

      Usagi could almost imagine that she took a sick, twisted joy in placing  
angry red 'x's on all the wrong answers.  She also believed that Ms. Haruna 

thrived on letting her know that her work was "unacceptable" and that she needed 

to put more "effort" into her work.

      Dear kami up in the heavens, if she put any more effort into school then 

her brain would turn to mush and she'd end up hallucinating about talking cats 

and energy zapping demons! *AN: Well…:) * 

      In any case, Usagi was definitely not looking forward to showing her 

mother the test paper in her hand.

      Maybe, just maybe, she could burn it before she got home and pretend the 

test had never existed.  

      Then again, that wasn't such a good idea considering that her last 

attempts at burning a test had almost resulted in her whole room burning to a 

crisp.

      Usagi closed her eyes and sighed. There was no possible way that the day 

could not get any worse than it already was.

      Some say you shouldn't tempt the gods.

-------

            Chiba Mamoru sighed and wondered how it was possible for him to feel 

so terrible considering that he'd had such a great day.

      He'd aced his anatomy and physiology test, had received an 'A' on his term 

paper (he'd almost died of exhaustion because of it) and his advanced physics 

professor had just promoted him to a Teacher's Aide.  

      The day could not get any better for him.

      And yet here he was, shuffling along the streets of Tokyo as blue as if 

he'd just lost his best friend. 

      Then again, his best friend Motoki had been quite occupied spending as 

much time as he could with his long-time girlfriend before she went off on an 

expedition in Egypt.  

      So much time that Mamoru hadn't been able to talk to him about all the 

great things that had been happening to him the last few weeks.

      Having only one friend sucked. 

      Not to say that he couldn't have found a person to share his news with but 

that in itself would mean having to tolerate some girl making eyes at him and 

suffocating him with her god-awful perfume.

      Having to socialize sucked even more.

      Mamoru kicked a couple of pebbles along the way for good measure and 

wondered how one could be so lonely living in such a big city.

      He was so engrossed in his thoughts that not once had he noticed the 

blond-haired beauty just a few feet away from him who could teach him a thing or 

two about being lonely and dejected.

      Nor had he noticed that she had been muttering to herself about her 

troubles and woes.  

      Mamoru didn't notice, that is, until he felt a wad of paper smack him 

straight between the eyes.

      "What the…?!"

      He stood there, stunned for a second but quickly regained his wits and 

grabbed the paper, his eyes searching for the culprit who'd been rude enough to 

awaken him from his always-meaningful thoughts.

      "Gomen nasai!  Gomen nasai!"

      Mamoru's eyes followed the sound of the voice until they rested on a 

petite girl who could not have been more than fifteen years old.

      It was all he could do not to stand there like a gaping fool.

      She was about a foot shorter than he was with blonde, silky hair that was 

ridiculously long---it never seemed to end.  Then there were those long slender 

legs of hers with smooth alabaster skin and the soft round hips---

      Soft round hips? 'Get a hold of yourself Chiba!' he thought. 

      Mamoru noticed that she had stopped her bowing and was merely looking at 

him with her piercing blue eyes.  

      His eyes traveled from those eyes to the cute little button nose and the 

smooth cheeks tinted red by her blushing. She was, Mamoru cringed inwardly for 

using such a clichéd description but there was simply no other way to describe 

her, breathtakingly beautiful.

      It was then that he noticed something that made him decide then and there 

that she was a girl like no other.

      Never in his life had he seen anyone sporting her unusual hairstyle. All 

types of girls, much to Mamoru's annoyance, had marched up to him with evil 

gleams in their eyes and had attempted to win him over with daring tastes in 

clothes and false smiles. He had either ignored them or turned anyone who wasn't 

discouraged by his cold indifference with his sarcastic personality. 

      Point was, he'd seen many women of all kinds in his lifetime and never 

once had he seen a girl with such a unique hairstyle. Come to think of it, each 

mound on her head kind of reminded him of…

      At that moment, his sarcastic brain and hardened heart (although the sight 

of her had set it on "thaw") were conspiring against him, for, unbeknownst to 

Mamoru, he was about to say something that had the potential to transform this 

enchanting and adorable creature into a fiery she-devil.

      "Odango."

      The girl's embarrassed expression turned to one of confusion as Mamoru 

continued to stare intently at her head. 

      "Huh?" 

      "Your hairstyle, it looks like two perfectly shaped odango are sitting 

atop your head." 

      "Nani?!" 

      Mamoru laughed out loud as he realized that the two long ponytails 

completed the whole "noodles and dumplings" motif.

      Any normal guy would have laughed discreetly or not at all, especially if 

the source of that laughter was standing before him, the perfect mouth he'd been 

admiring only moments before turned down into a scowl.

      Then again, any "normal" guy would have had ample opportunity to learn the 

proper socialization skills necessary to avoid getting into unpleasant 

situations.

      Not so Chiba Mamoru. He, unfortunately, had the socialization skills of a 

chimpanzee as Motoki would attest and thus usually said whatever was on his 

mind.

      To make matters worse, his socialization skills were nonexistent henever 

he found himself in the company of the opposite sex.

      And the girl before him was DEFINITELY of the opposite sex. 

      Taking all this into account, it was not surprising that Chiba Mamoru DID 

laugh nor was it surprising that the next phrase he uttered would make his 

usually boring day a lot more interesting. 

      "You, my dear, are the first girl I've ever seen with a main course on her 

head." 

-----

      Usagi cursed herself for having tempted the gods. Why o why did she just 

not learn to accept that she was born to suffer from lousy test grades, being 

uncoordinated, and unknowingly treating people's heads like trashcans? 

      If this had happened any other day, she would have probably mumbled a 

quick "gomen nasai" before scampering off like a scared rabbit. But this time, 

something odd happened. 

      For reasons unbeknownst to her, her legs refused to budge. It was as if a 

mysterious force were holding her down in that same spot that she so desperately 

wanted to run from. That mysterious force also drew her eyes from the ground, 

past strong and muscular legs, quickly past a very ugly looking green blazer, 

and up to a very handsome face.

      It was at that precise moment that she began to wonder if maybe the 

horrible test had actually been a blessing in disguise.

      After all, if it hadn't been for having failed the stupid test she would 

not have been so distracted or careless as to toss the paper behind her.  If she 

had not tossed the paper behind her, she would have never turned to find the 

most beautiful man she had ever had the pleasure of laying eyes on. 

      Yes, _beautiful_. For you see, handsome would not have done the man before 

her any justice. He was tall (about a foot taller than she was) with dark as 

midnight hair and striking eyes that were clouded with something she couldn't 

quite put her finger on.

      The fact surprised Usagi because many of her friends had often remarked 

how they'd felt like open books when they'd first met her. She was, after all, 

known for seeing the best in people and there hadn't been one person yet who had 

escaped her searching eyes.

      If the eyes were windows to the soul then Usagi was like the moonlight 

that managed to seep through the glass surface and cast light upon those she 

met, no matter how reluctant they were to allow it. 

      But this man was different. 

      There was some sort of barricade that she just could not get through and 

so, although her eyes were pleased with his physical appearance, she was at a 

loss as to whether or not there was an inner beauty that matched it.

      "Odango." 

      She was broken out of her reverie by the sound of his voice, which she 

couldn't help but notice was very pleasing to her ears.

      "Huh?" 

      Usagi looked at him, a bit dazed and confused. What did dumplings have 

anything to do with her? 

      He didn't keep her in suspense for long. 

      "Your hairstyle, it looks like two perfectly shaped odango are sitting 

atop your head."

      Anyone who knew Usagi would have thought the man foolish for there was 

nothing more that could get her as riled as a joke about her hair.

      "Nani?!" 

      Usagi scowled and counted to ten slowly, taking deep breaths as she did 

so. 'Calm down, girl,' she thought to herself, 'he's not saying something that 

you haven't heard before or that you know isn't true.' 

      Yes, Usagi was aware that her unusual hairstyle did resemble

odangos…somewhat. This man did not know that a remark like that could result in 

her throwing various objects, usually shoes, at his head or that she was known 

to inflict great pain on those who dared make fun of her hairstyle. And besides,

there was nothing in the stranger's tone that implied that he was being snide in 

his remark.

      So, out of the kindness of her heart, she would act as if the comment was 

not as insensitive as it sounded to her. 

      She had just about forgiven the remark when she saw that the man had 

started laughing and, unfortunately (for him) she realized that she was the 

source of his amusement.   

      Usagi wasn't exactly pleased to realize that he was laughing at HER but 

even as she felt her anger rising rapidly she couldn't help but admit that the 

man had a dazzling smile.  

      A dazzling smile marred by arrogance that the man hadn't even tried to 

disguise. 

      Damn the jerk. 

      Although she would have enjoyed nothing more than to play a game of darts 

with his head, Usagi decided that, mysterious forces be damned, she was not 

about to stand there and listen to a complete stranger laugh at her hair.  

      She had every intention of leaving the scene so that she could forget 

about the whole confusing encounter she'd had with the man with the strange 

eyes. 

      That is, of course, until she realized he was bent on showing her how far 

he could put his foot in his mouth. 

      "You, my dear, are the first girl I've ever seen with a main course on her 

head."

      Usagi Tsukino might have been kind, generous and, at times, a pacifist 

(unless her brother Shingo was involved because brothers were, after all, fair 

game) but, as Mamoru Chiba was about to find out, she was nobody's punching bag.

      In short, Chiba Mamoru was about to meet the _real_ Tsukino Usagi.

------

Author's notes: It's been a LONG time since I've written any Sailor Moon fan   
fiction. My very first SM fanfic was "Personal Thoughts" (written under my old 

"Sonia Moon" pseudonym) which I never truly ended (although, the way I ended the 

last chapter COULD be taken as a finale). I might try to pick up where I left 

off, but I'm not sure if I really want to (I can't help but cringe when I think 

about my inexperienced days as a writer). I would love to hear comments and 

genuine criticism from you guys but refuse to read flames. For those who don't 

know the difference between criticism and flames, let me enlighten you:

Criticism: The story was all right, but I think you should improve upon…

Flame: You suck as a writer! Die scum! Die!

As I was saying, send all comments and criticism to latin_usako@tokyo.com.

Latin Usako    

P.S. I made various decisions as I was walking (almost in a comatose state) to 

class:

(1)The story will not involve any mention of Sailor Moon, Sailor Scouts or 

anything involving Usagi's alternate identity as a warrior. 

(2) I WILL, however, introduce the rest of the crew (Ami, Makoto, Rei, and 

Minako)in the chapters that follow. Luna (that pretty kitty) will also be a part 

of this fanfiction, although I don't know whether she will talk (without 

mentioning anything about Usagi being Sailor Moon…I haven't yet figured out how 

Usagi would accept this without checking herself into the nearest mental 

hospital, though…LOL) or just sit there looking like the pretty kitty she is. 

(3)I strictly want to focus on the normal relationships that Usagi has and will 

have formed with friends and with Mamoru himself. I ESPECIALLY want to focus on 

the romance between Usagi and Mamoru without having the whole Tuxedo 

Kamen/Sailor Moon/Moon Princess issue muddling things up for them. Mamoru will, 

however, dream about the mysterious princess but I won't let him know why until 

I darn well please. :) 

(4)Thanks to the anonymous writer for pointing out that odango and meatballs 

have nothing to do with each other. I knew that, I PROMISE, it's just that I 

keep forgetting that I'm writing from the Japanese perspective and not the 

Western version. I decided to go with the Japanese names because they just roll 

off the tongue (wouldn't you agree?). 


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